The Open University

OU’s free learning site turns 15 and reaches 100m visitors

12 January 2022

The Open University’s (OU) free learning site, OpenLearn, is celebrating a milestone after clocking up 100 million visitors in the 15 years since it was launched. Established as a trailblazing open educational resource, OpenLearn has successfully broken down barriers to education, with over a thousand courses and 15,000 hours of educational interactives, videos and articles. […]

What it takes to be a leader – spotlight on BBC/OU Learning English online series

11 January 2022

Academics from The Open University have collaborated with BBC Learning English to help thousands of people around the world to not only learn English but inform and inspire them about leadership. A new 20-part series is available now through the BBC’s Learning English and it explores the differing leadership approaches including that of household names […]

The OU and BBC Bitesize collaborate on new campaign to help young people imagine a more sustainable world

10 January 2022

The Regenerators campaign is designed to help young people think about and shape their future careers for sustainability, with a series of digital videos launched today January 10th on the BBC Bitesize website. The aim is to equip children, teenagers and young people with the tools and skills to understand the most important environmental issues […]

PhD student’s part in the excavation of the Rutland ‘sea dragon’

10 January 2022

Open University research student, Emily Swaby was at the centre of an exciting excavation – which has unearthed the largest, most complete marine reptile skeleton ever found in Britain, at the Rutland Water Nature Reserve. She describes the uncovering of the skeleton, the fossilised remains of a 10m-long sea predator called an ichthyosaur which is […]

Meteor glowing as it enters the Earth's atmosphere

Don’t look up: several asteroids are heading towards Earth – here’s how we deal with threats in real life

7 January 2022

Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences at The Open University writes for The Conversation about the new Netflix film, “Don’t Look Up” and what would happen if this happened in real life. Don’t look now – but we are currently experiencing a rash of stories about a forthcoming global catastrophe. But in a […]

Explore our world’s fascinating flora in the BBC/OU series, The Green Planet

6 January 2022

Legendary nature historian, Sir David Attenborough will offer a stunning insight into Earth’s plant life in a new series co-produced by the BBC and The Open University. The first episode of the five-part series, The Green Planet, airs on 9 January at 7.00 pm on BBC One and will be available on BBC iPlayer shortly […]

Capitol assault: the real reason Trump and the crowd almost killed US democracy

6 January 2022

Written by Dr Evangelos Ntontis, Lecturer in Social Psychology at The Open University, Stephen Reicher, Bishop Wardlaw Professor in the School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, Alex Haslam, Professor of Psychology and ARC Laureate Fellow, The University of Queensland and Klara Jurstakova, PhD Candidate, Canterbury Christ Church University It was the moment that could […]

Sharlene celebrates her OU degree with her family

‘I channelled my own childhood trauma into a career helping other families’

3 January 2022

Sharlene Hill grew up in a challenging environment. Many years later when she became a mum herself, she was determined to build a better future for her family. Sharlene developed an interest in adverse childhood experiences and family structures, which sent her off on a volunteering and training journey. Fast forward to now and she’s […]

The BIG SPENDERS of the January sales – academic insight

28 December 2021

If you associate money with love, freedom, power and status, then put your credit card or wallet in a ‘safe place’ in the digital or High Street New Year sales as it’s more likely you who will be a big spender. That’s according to an academic at The Open University who is a leading expert […]

Skill up for the New Year with career-focused short courses

28 December 2021

As the year draws to a close and thoughts turn inevitably to New Year’s resolutions, The Open University (OU) points the lens at career change in 2022, and invites employees and employers to consider its innovative range of short courses. Known as microcredentials, these career-focused courses are hosted on the OU’s co-owned social learning […]

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